Saturday 1 October 2011

Making high power (3W) LED eyeballs for the automaton

New eyeballs

The eyeballs in my automaton head work OK, but are woefully underpowered. Time to make some new ones!
This is looking at the basic starting point of a detachable eyeball from the front look towards the back. The hole is where the housing goes.
Detachable eyeball
The housing is the (more or less) parabolic reflector from a torch
Hacking parts from a torch
The eyeball is made detachable by adding a rubber grommet, which allows it to be pushed tight onto the servo control rod. The rubber friction holds it tightly in place.
Detachable eyeball
The eyeballs are ready to attach, although not cosmetically finished yet.
New High power LED eyeballs
Here they are hooked up to the breadboard to test how they work
New High power LED eyeballs
They are remarkably more powerful. Each LED is 3W, which is pretty bright. It hurts t0 look straight into them
High power LED eyeballs being tested
You can see how much more powerful the 3W led is on the left
Comparing high power LED eyeballs

Here the test is to see how much light they give off in total darkness. The head is meant to be a bedside/reading lamp with remote control directable beam, via the eyeballs.

Testing shows this is plenty of light!
High power LED eyeballs being tested
Close-up it's easier to see how much light is given off.
High power LED eyeballs being tested